Blong Yang, chair of the council's Civil Rights and Emergency Management Committee, tells us, "We're just replenishing our supply. The new ones we're buying are to replace ones that are already there" but are aging out of their service life.

"From what the police department has said, the life cycle of a taser is about five years, and ours have gone up to 10 years," Yang continues. "We're putting the old ones out of business."

During a recent public safety committee meeting, Minneapolis Police Department Deputy Chief Travis Glampe said the department owns about 300 tasers and pointed out that the $130,000 wouldn't increase that number. They were first introduced to the force in 2001.

The goal is to replace the aging tasers "on a yearly basis, bring forward a rotation so we can swap out the old and get the new ones in" at a rate of 50 per year, Glampe added.

According to numbers cited by Glampe during the meeting, the number of times Minneapolis officers have deployed tasers declined from 225 in 2011, to 154 in 2012, to 91 last year. This year's number is on pace to be close to 2013.

Asked why he thinks that number is going down, Glampe said, "We believe it's the public's perception... nationally they've become a very well-known police tool, and quite honestly our officers have taken a lot of ownership and have been accountable for their use."

"The other thing is we've also seen our officers use [tasers] as a warning tool," Glampe continued. "When you tell someone, 'I'm going to tase you' and they see the red dots from the taser come out, a lot of stuff stops right there."

Though taser deployments have decreased in recent years, Glampe points out that their use in crisis intervention and suicidal person calls have gone up.

"I think that speaks to how these are being used in a positive manner," he said.

But ACLU-MN director Chuck Samuelson tells us he's of the opinion that tasers "are used way too much."

YOU ARE ALL EVIL!! YOU WILL SUFFER!!!! THE ONLY SIN IN REALITY IS TO HARM ANOTHER HUMAN BEING!!! COPS DONT SERVE AND PROTECT THEY JUST WANT POWER AND CONTROL!!! FIRE ALL COPS CUT THEIR FUNDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HATE YOU!!!!!! I HOPE ALL THE COPS GET TAZED HAHA

Watch the first full interview of Chris Lollie. Chris granted "Filter Free Amerika" his first ever, full length interview detailing his assault and kidnapping by members of the Saint Paul, MN Police Department. He explains in complete detail the events before and after the now viral YouTube video of his incident as well as how it all went down in court when all of his fraudulent charges were thrown out. You will not believe the parts of the story NOT yet made public! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fn_8ErWbqo

I'd like to see them put body cameras, with audio, on all officers. For their protection as well. And I'd like to see a very low level of tolerance for "equipment malfunctions" when questionable incidents come to light. Other jurisdictions have found the cameras to dramatically reduce questionable complaints and lawsuits, which the law enforcement community decries. And, while this is equally hard to quantify, some say departments that have adopted the cameras are showing fewer overall violent incidents with the public.

@digitalprotocol Do you have to buy all the office supplies at the job you work at? Assuming you're not some unemployed crazy person who spends all their time online...which going by your comments on this site is definitely a possibility.

@ajlalk3 @digitalprotocol I don't think they should have to buy any of their equipment, but also they should be allowed to use only equipment issued to them.

I do think they should have to purchase their own liability insurance. The Department could reimburse them, as is customary for various other professional expenses in the business world. I keep hearing that complaints about the Police are either frivolous or due to the actions of "a few bad apples," so body cameras and liability insurance renewals and rates should be acceptable methods for verifying that and not be an issue for anybody. I have to buy my own professional liability insurance, and if my actions cause my rates to go up, nobody anywhere has any sympathy for me.